Posts Tagged ‘Bill Murray’

Kind of funny that I’m taking pot-shots at Mel Gibson for The Passion of The Christ, then turn around and pen a comic where my character is attempting futile correspondence with God, eh?

Looks like ol’ Melly-Mel is going to make back that $30 million of his own money he sunk into The Passion. It did something like $26 million in it’s first day of release. Some people have said that tackling this heady material (in conjunction with the increasing bizarre interviews he’s been giving) are enough to bury Mel’s movie career. That’s a load of bull. Hollywood will forgive any amount of weird behavior as long as they’re taking your cash at the box office. Mel will be fine.

I don’t think Cami and I are going to get around to seeing The Passion this weekend. It looks like we’re about to undertake some massive home-improvement projects. We’re going to paint a couple rooms two different colors and install laminate wood flooring into one of them. I must have a hole in my head because we went through this exact same routine about this time last year and Cami and I nearly murdered each other.

Let’s get one thing straight. I am NOT Bob Vila.

The Oscar ceremony is this Sunday and I’m actually looking forward to it this year! I’ve said it before, but I think the nominations were sublime. Positive buzz has been surrounding Bill Murray. for Best Actor since Sean Penn. has been hinting he won’t make an appearance. If Bill won, it would be a victory for Midwestern smart-asses everywhere. Go, Bill, Go!

Other than that, not much to report. I guess if you’re interested you can check out a couple of t-shirt designs I submitted over at Threadless.com. It’s a cool little art/commerce community. You can view my designs here and here.

Since we’re giving a nod to Garfield today, I thought it would be fun to illustrate what it might look like if a bipedal, walking cat existed in the real word for today’s incentive sketch. Click away to uncover the result.

I’m taking the piss out of Bill Murray a little for collecting a fat paycheck for his voice over work on the forthcoming Garfield movie that comes out Friday. I guess I just find it interesting when critically hailed performers take their momentum and throw the emergency break by following up with a commercial picture.

Halle Berry did it with Die Another Day and the “so-much-negative-buzz-it’s-radioactive” Catwoman after being the first black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar. Bill is doing it with Garfield post Lost in Translation. I can only assume these decision are made while in some kind of drunken stupor.

Ironically, Murray will probably be the only performer to emerge from the bloodbath that will be Garfield at the box office because he is the only “name” actor that doesn’t appear on screen.

To put it another way, say a little prayer for Breckin Meyer and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

To make a Garfield movie this late in the game is ludicrous to me. They should have made this flick 10 years ago when everyone was lugging around those suction cup Garfield dolls in the back of their Toyota Camary’s.

Why the delay? And I swear if anyone tells me it was so they could wait for the technology to catch up with their vision I will murder Jim Davis with mind-bullets.

You can tell no thought went into this movie. Why on Earth would you choose to animate Garfield with computer generate effects, but cast his canine foil Odie with a live action dog? This movie has already broken the rules established for its universe and already I’m angry about it.

Nevertheless, Cami insists we’ll be seeing the film this Friday when it opens. Every time one of those awkwardly paced commercials comes on TV, she blurts out “We’re TOTALLY seeing that!”

I think she’s just saying that to poke fun at me a little. She’s already been on the receiving end of this rant a couple of times…

Quick bit of site news: If you could be so kind to check out our newest sponsor Please Rewind, I would be forever grateful. This is a splendidly written and drawn web comic about a couple of guys who own a video store, so you know already it’s going to be up your alley. Man, if I had a dollar for every time I ran into a character like Hank Burns I’d be a rich man…

“Bill Murray is succeeding the late Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield… who succeeded Bill Murray as the voice of Peter Venkman in the cartoon version of The Real Ghostbusters.“

As a frequent reader of the IMDB, I was already familiar with this fact, but the idea of this cycle in casting seems to have captivated enough of you that I felt it was important for all to be made aware.

Haven’t seen Broken Flowers yet and I feel the clock ticking away. It’s only a matter of time before the indie theaters around here throw up their arms and say “Well, we gave another Jim Jarmusch movie a chance – but audiences here in Iowa don’t ‘get’ his stuff. Roll in that Rob Schneider movie!”

Honest to goodness, quality cinema seems to have a shelf-life of about a week in these parts…

If it’s not Ghostbusters, it’s Rushmore. If it’s not Stripes, it’s What About Bob? There’s just something about the guy that is everyman and authentic. Nevermind the whole time he’s performing to you, he’s looking around in the audience for the one guy in back that really “gets it.” The guy who will throw him the subtle nod to his knowing wink that says “All these people in this room are morons.” The way Bill Murray plays his roles, he makes every individual feel like he or she is in on the joke. What a talent.

Sure, there are movies that he’s made that are colossal mis-fires. Larger Than Life and Garfield immediately spring to mind (not much luck with animals, eh Billy?) But I would say the hits far outnumber the misses and he is probably one of the most infinitely quotable actors in modern comedy.

I’ve always thought if I could be quick-witted like John Cusack when I’m in my 30’s, wry and slightly detached like Murray when I’m in my 50’s and be all kick-ass and hairy like Sean Connery when I’m in my 70’s, then I will have reached the zenith of generational cool.

I like Bill Murray a lot.

Want to remind everyone that I’m sitting on a large stock of t-shirts at the moment. I need to ship a bunch off to people who have been patiently waiting for their orders to be fulfilled first and foremost. But there is also a good chance that I will bump prices up on all shirts to probably $15 up from $12 to help pick up the slack on the advertising space I’ve recently cut from the site.

Price increase will probably take place in a few weeks once all of the current orders are out the door. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you’re thinking about buying a t-shirt, now is the time to do it.

Have a great weekend everyone! I’ll be getting a jump start on things Friday by volunteering some hours at a Habitat For Humanity house. Myself and some members of my team from my day job will be helping fit the house with insulation. Hope I don’t get too scratchy!

I wanted to do something kind of romantic for today’s incentive sketch. It seemed like this would have been the natural conclusion of today’s strip if it were five panels instead of four…

The punchline for today’s comic was originally going to be something different. Something to the effect that Cami suggests Tom read more books and Tom storming off in a huff.

But after drawing the third panel and the pure look of glee on Tom’s face… I decided to go another way with it. I’m happy with the result. As fun as it is to wring humor out of the foibles of marriage, I also like to promote the fact that Tom and Cami have a very well adjusted relationship.

That goes for INSIDE the comic and OUTSIDE as well!

So, Shopgirl comes out today and it kind of snuck up on me. Back when I read Steve Martin’s original novella back in 2001 or 2002 (got it as a Christmas stocking gift, if I remember correctly) I thought about how great this would be if it were a movie. Martin writes in a very economical style. Things are very precisely described and there is never much superfluous conversation between the characters. It was ready-made for a port to the big screen. Four years later, here it is.

For those that haven’t read the book, it’s essentially about an older man (Martin) with great wealth and fine taste forging a relationship with a very disillusioned (and heavily medicated) young woman (Claire Danes) who sells gloves at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. In many ways, both people are looking to have aspects of their lives fulfilled by the other person. It’s kind of a right place, right time scenario. But as things evolve, the two uncover that they are not the perfect fit they built each other up to be in their heads.

On plot alone, Shopgirl is going to get a lot of comparisons to Lost in Translation. The situation likely amplified by Martin and Bill Murray’sSaturday Night Live connection. Still, I have high hopes that the movie will do a good job communicating Martin’s trademark dry wit sprinkled with a dash of melancholy. No one captures the prefabricated detachment born of the utter irreality of Los Angeles better than Martin.

With hope, Cami and I will see Shopgirl sometime this weekend. We both loved the book – one of the few we actually agree on!

Wait, that’s not right. It’s not so much that we don’t agree on literature as we don’t read the same kind of literature. Shopgirl was one of those rare books that had crossover appeal in our household. Ironically, Martin’s follow-up "The Pleasure of my Company" also earned a similar distinction.

Needless to say, we’re fans. Our radar is up for this one.

I’ll be back later with a familiar reminder. Or, you could cut right to the chase and order a t-shirt, hoodie or baby-doll tee before I close off that section of the store October 31. Your choice.

It took me nearly five years, but I finally worked a Ned Ryerson reference into the comic! Although the comic has landed on February 2 the last two years, so I don’t know why I didn’t come up with this idea sooner.

I have some big news, so listen up. I need to clue you in to some production changes on the site for the month of February.

Our due date for Baby B is coming up on February 15. Our doctors have told us that Cami could deliver him anywhere between two weeks before and one week after the due date. As such, I have decided to scale back my commitment to Theater Hopper for the month of February.

What does that mean? Good question. Basically it means that I will be updating once a week instead of three times a week.

When can you expect updates? I’ll be posting a new comic every Friday. However, I haven’t completely abandoned new content on Mondays and Wednesdays. I’ve managed to recruit some of my good friends in the community to help me out and I have SEVERAL guest strips lined up for the days I will not be producing a comic.

So that means every Monday and Wednesday there will be a guest strip and every Friday a new comic from me. Each comic will include a blog from me, as well.

So, really, it’s not that bad. I’ll still be around, talking to you every day. I’ll even be keeping up with The Triple Feature talkcasts every Monday at 9:00 pm CST for as long as I can. I just can’t commit the time behind-the-scenes to producing new comics while we’re waiting for Cami to deliver. Also, I’m pretty sure there is going to be a period of adjustment after Baby B is born where I’m going to want to focus completely on my family and I won’t have 3 or 4 hours every other night to draw, ink, color, shade and letter comics. It takes a lot of time.

I wasn’t really looking forward to breaking this news to you because there’s no easy way to say it. But obviously having a baby is a big deal and that’s where my focus needs to be. I know you guys understand. The amazing, supportive e-mails I’ve been getting since we annouced our pregnancy have been proof of that.

So things will be a little different around here for a while. But I hope you continue to make Theater Hopper a part of your week just as you have before. Making comics is something I love doing and the fact that you guys have been there to support it means the world to me.

Every time I think I’ve put a bow on an arc, I always think of different ways that I could stretch it into infinity.

Today’s comic was supposed to be the end of the Shia LaBeouf arc. But obviously the way I’ve set up the punchline in today’s comic, there has to be some kind of action taken against Shia next week, don’t you think?

So far this week, I think I’ve made a pretty good case against Shia – both in the comic and in the blog. I wanted to squeeze more examples into today’s comic, but there wasn’t enough room in the second panel to do that.

Regardless of the damming testimony I’ve come up with so far, I knew that photo from the set of the upcoming Indiana Jones movie was my secret weapon. First of all, that leather jacket isn’t working for me. It communicates only one thing – “Greaser.” I don’t need you screwing up my Indiana Jones movie with any shenanigans from Grease.

Second, Shia SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING THE MOTORCYCLE WITH INDIANA JONES RIDING BITCH! You want to ride a motorcycle, that’s fine. Here’s a Vespa. But if you’re hanging out with Indiana Jones – guess what? – HE’S DRIVING!

You want another reason to hate Shia? Check out this production photo from the set of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull:

WHAT IS UP WITH THAT MOUSTACHE? KNOCK IT OFF!

Probably the most dispiriting aspect of this whole Shia debacle is that he appears to have become Steven Spielberg’s protege. And with Vanity Fair declaring him “the next Tom Hanks,” there are too many favorable associations floating around this kid. Did he make some kind of bargain with Lucifer? Because, if not, I think we should all strongly consider having Steven Spielberg committed to a mental institution.

The one thing about Ghostbusters I never really understood was adding Winston to the team. He kind of sticks out. Here you have three scientists walking around with proton accelerators and then… Winston. And we never see him go through any extensive training on how to operate the equipment. It can’t be as simple as throwing on the pack and going to work, can it? Don’t you think you’d have to be eased into it? Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics to see what I mean…

I know I say this a lot, but I had a really hard time coming up with an idea for today’s comic. Lately, the ideas just aren’t there. It’s like scooping a frozen block of ice cream out of the back of my mind.

Thank goodness for Twitter. I can go online any time of the day or night and say “I have no idea what tomorrow’s comic is going to be about” and I’ll receive at least a half-dozen replies with suggestions.

That’s not to say I’m stealing ideas from readers. But they do provide valuable inspiration. I wouldn’t have come up with today’s comic if someone hadn’t reminded me that Ghostbusters came out on Blu ray yesterday. I had completely forgotten about it. Bill Murray’s acne scars, however? That’s vintage me.

Speaking of scary, let me tell you about my first encounter with Ghostbusters. I think I may have told this story before. So if you’ve heard it, bear with me.

The year was 1984 and I was 7 years-old. As a present for doing something good (I can’t remember what), my parents were going to surprise me with a special gift.

In my mind were visions of Go-Bots – or, dare I? – Transformers. Imagine my shock when my parents rolled up on a movie theater and said “Surprise! We’re going to see Ghostbusters!”

I’m 7 years-old. I haven’t seen any commercials for this movie. I barely know what movies are (we never really went to movies as a family). All I see on the marquee is “GHOST” and I freak out, convinced that the movie is terrifying and that my parents are playing a cruel, sadistic joke. I am crying in the back seat and BEGGING my parents not to take me to this movie.

Instead we ended up going to an educational toy store next to the theater and they bought me some Mad Libs. I remember clearly the disappointment on their faces. They tried to do something nice for me, something they thought I would love, and I turned it into an ugly mess.

It becomes ironic, then, that as an adult, Ghostbusters is probably one of my all-time favorite movies.

I don’t remember when I came around to appreciating Ghostbusters for what it is or when exactly I shed my irrational fear of the film. Probably after the Saturday morning cartoon version of it came out. But these days I watch it probably 5 times a year, easily. It’s infinitely quotable, fascinating conceptually and entertaining from start to finish. I can’t stress enough how much I love this movie.

That said… I’m kind of on the fence about buying the movie on Blu ray.

I have a funny relationship with Blu ray. Snobbish, in fact. I love my Blu ray player, but I resent having to buy old movies in the format – especially for $25 – $30 a pop. As such, I’ve developed all these rules about which Blu rays I pick up and which one’s I won’t.

If I already own the movie on DVD, chances are slim that I’ll buy it unless it’s something recent like Wall-E or Iron Man. I tend to snub older films because I actually think some of them look WORSE in the format.

If you don’t believe me, watch The French Connection on Blu ray sometime. They applied this kind of high-res grain to the film to make it look 1970’s gritty, but it comes off as manufactured and soulless. This coupled with the fact that if the movie wasn’t captured at least partially digitally, I’m convinced a Blu ray transfer won’t look good.

In other words, watching a film like Ghostbusters in the format for visual “Ooh’s!” and “Ahh’s!” is kind of like squeezing blood from a stone. There’s only so much a digital transfer is going to give you.

One might argue that, similar to how audiophiles listen to records on vinyl and not CD, there are certain advantages to watching older movies in an older format.

VHS and DVD do a better job of hiding some of the effects work in older films. The roto-scoping, the green screen… Blu ray drags everything out into the light. Sometimes you see more than you should.

This, perhaps, only makes sense to me. But it’s how I feel.

I know most of you guys are probably more excited about the Ghostbusters video game that also game out this week, but what’s your opinion of picking up the original film on Blu ray… or your opinion of Blu ray in general? Do you have any rules you follow? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!